Kane Williamson breaks Mahela Jayawardene’s 12-year-old W.C record

London, July 15: New Zealand’s Kane Williamson on Sunday became the captain with most number of runs in a single World Cup, breaking the 12-year-old record of former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene who had amassed 548 runs in the 2007 edition of the showpiece event.

Williamson achieved the feat when he opened his account in the final against England at the Lord’s. However, the Kiwi skipper’s stay in the middle didn’t last long as he departed for 30 (53 balls, 4×2) after edging Liam Plunkett to Jos Buttler behind the stumps.

Williams is now the fourth highest run-getter in this World Cup with 578 runs from 10 innings with two hundreds and two fifties. He can be dislodged by England’s Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow who have scored 549 and 496 runs, respectively, so far in the tournament.

The Kiwis have been heavily reliant on Williamson to score the bulk of the runs for them in this competition, and more often than not WIlliamson has stood up to the task. This is New Zealand’s second consecutive World Cup final after they lost to Australia in the 2015 edition.